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1619--The first black Americans (20 of them) land at Jamestown, Virginia.

1779--Francis Scott Key, composer of The Star-Spangled Banner, America’s national anthem, is born.

1790--The first US census is completed with a total population of 3,929,214 recorded. The areas included were the present states of Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia.

1831--The London Bridge opens. It was dismantled and moved to Arizona in the 20th century. This bridge was the second on the site, and now there is a third. The Tower Bridge now stands at the location of the original London Bridge.

1903--The first coast-to-coast automobile trip (from San Francisco to New York City) is completed.

1936--Fashion designer, Yves Saint-Laurent, is born.

1942--Jerry Garcia, San Francisco rocker and lead man for The Grateful Dead, is born.

1946--President Truman establishes the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).

1957--The first building to be heated by the sun (solar power) is established in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

1960--Chubby Checker’s recored, The Twist, is released. The song inspires the biggest worldwide dance craze of the 1960s.

1962--The Beatles perform at the Cavern Club at lunchtime and then again at night.

1963--The Beatles, at the Playhouse Theatre in Manchester, record editions 11 and 12 in their radio series “Pop Go the Beatles.” For program 11, The Beatles perform Ooh! My Soul, Don’t Ever Change, Twist and Shout, She Loves You, Anna, and A Shot of Rhythm and Blues. Their guests are Cyril Davies’ Rhythm and Blues All-Stars, featuring Long John Baldry. Broadcast on August 27. For program 12, The Beatles perform Lucille, From Me to You, I’ll Get You, Money, Baby It’s You, There’s a Place, Honey Don’t (with John Lennon singing the lead vocal), and Roll Over Beethoven. (Note: Lucille and Baby It’s You were omitted from the broadcast tape.) The Beatles guests are Brian Poole & the Tremeloes. Broadcast on September 3rd. Several of these recordings are included on the 1994 Beatles double-CD, Live at the BBC. From show 11, A Shot of Rhythm and Blues (Disc one, Track nine); Ooh! My Soul (Disc two, Track 30); and Don't Ever Change (Disc two, Track 32). From show 12, Honey Don’t (Disc two, Track 34).

1963--A British monthly Beatles fan magazine, “The Beatles Book,” brings forth its first issue, published by Sean O’Mahony. It sells out in a day. The magazine continues publishng until December 1969. During the early years of the publication, the group took a keen interest in the magazine’s progress, and cooperated fully in regard to its content. But the boys eventually came to resent its endlessly cheerful and non-controversial reportage of their career. The publication was started up again in the 1970s and is still being printed to this day.

1964--A Hard Day’s Night becomes the #1 single in the US charts.

1964--Billboard magazine reports that sales of harmonicas are on the rise after artists like Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones have started featuring it on their records.

1964--Ringo Starr is a panelist on the BBC’s popular show, “Jukebox Jury.”

1965--The Beatles perform live on the ABC Television program “Blackpool Night Out,” broadcast from the ABC Theatre in Blackpool. They play I Feel Fine, I’m Down, Act Naturally, Ticket to Ride, and Help! During Paul McCartney’s solo performance of Yesterday, John Lennon and George Harrison leave the stage (Ringo Starr remains seated behind his drum kit while the stage lights go down and a spotlight focuses on Paul). Returning at the song’s completion, John announces, “Thank you, Ringo, that was wonderful!” Allen Wiener reports that The Beatles also performed a song called I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside. The Beatles Anthology 2 includes these performances of I Feel Fine, Ticket to Ride, Yesterday, and Help! (Disc one, Tracks 9-12). (Note: Mark Lewisohn reports that Ringo left the stage during Paul’s performance of Yesterday, but a close viewing of the “Anthology 4" video proves otherwise.)

1966--Paul McCartney tapes a solo radio appearance for the BBC Radio program “David Frost at the Phonograph.” Broadcast on August 6th.

1966--The British Empire came to an end as the Colonial Office closed its doors and lowered its flag.

1967--George and Pattie Harrison, Neil Aspinall, Magic Alex, and Jennie Boyd visit the Haight-Ashbury district in San Francisco, California.

1968--The Beatles are in the recording studio (Trident Studios, London) overdubbing bass and vocals for Hey Jude. Then a 36-piece orchestra overdubs George Martin’s arrangement for the song. The musicians are then asked to join in singing the song’s refrain (“na, na na, na na na na, na na na na, Hey Jude”). Most are happy to do so, but one huffs out, sneering, “I’m not going to clap my hands and sing Paul McCartney’s bloody song!”

1969--The Beatles in the recording studio (Studio Two, EMI Studios, London), recording John Lennon’s song Because, in 23 takes (take 16 being selected as ‘best’), along with the first of three sets of vocals overdubs.

1970--John Lennon’s first wife, Cynthia, re-marries; her new husband is Roberto Bassanini.

1970--The US Immigration Service requires that John Lennon and Yoko Ono leave America, despite appeals that their visas should be extended so that they could continue their Primal Scream Therapy. Arthur Janov said: “The government got him out of his therapy. It takes at least 13, 14, 15 months. I worked with him from March through July, only five months. That was when he was forced to leave. It really botched the whole process.”

1971--George Harrison and Ringo Starr perform at the “Concert for Bangla Desh,” a Harrison-sponsored fund-raiser to provide aid to children starving in the hurricane-blasted country of Bangla Desh (which was also being devastated by civil war). The two concerts are held at New York’s Madison Square Garden, and they are recorded for an album release, The Concert for Bangla Desh, which is primarily taken from the evening performance. Also appearing are Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voorman, Billy Preston, Leon Russell, and Ravi Shankar. John Lennon had been invited to participate, but he was not keen on the idea. However, he considered it until he was told that Yoko was not welcome to accompany him on stage. John tells a different story: “Allen Klein was putting it around that I had run off to England, so I couldn’t be there for the concert. But I told George a week before the show that I wouldn’t be doing it. I just didn’t feel like it. We were in the Virgin Islands and I certainly wasn’t going to be rehearsing in New York, then going back to the Virgins Islands, then coming back to New York and singing,” said Lennon.

1971--”The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour” debuts on CBS-TV.

1976--Trinidad and Tobago became independent republics within the British Commonwealth.

1977--”Elvis: What Happened?” is a book about Elvis Presley and his alleged drug problem. It was published by Ballatine and written by ex-bodyguards Red and Sonny West and Dave Hebler. The book presents the king of rock and roll as an overweight recluse obsessed with religion and the supernatural. The authors called a press conference saying their reason for writing the book was not money, but to save Presley from himself. The book sells over three million copies.

1978--George Harrison’s girlfriend, Olivia Arias, gives birth to their son Dhani (the Indian word for ‘wealthy person’) in Windsor, England.

1980--Jack Douglas immediately books the Hit Factory studios for John Lennon and Yoko Ono to begin recording Double Fantasy, but is stalled by John, who feels that Yoko’s songs are not yet complete. Meanwhile, John works on the lyrics of a new song, Forgive Me, My Little Flower Princess, apparently written for May Pang.

1980--George Harrison starts HandMade Films, his own movie studio.

1981--MTV (Music Television) makes its debut at 12:01 a.m. The first music video shown on the rock-video cable channel is, appropriately, Video Killed the Radio Star, by the Buggles. MTV’s original five veejays are Martha Quinn, Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, J.J. Jackson, and Alan Hunter.

1999--The August 1999 issue of UK magazine “Q” publishes the results of its readers’ poll for the “100 Greatest Stars of the 20th Century.” Voted #1 is John Lennon. Paul McCartney is next at #2, with Ringo Starr at #26, and George Harrison at #36.

For more day-by-day history go to HistoryUnlimited.net